Some types of the conventional roll towel cabinet provide an arrangement that when a portion of the roll towel which is unused and clean is pulled out from the cabinet, and the used towel portion having the same length as the pulled portion of the towel is wound up into the cabinet.
FIG. 1 shows a schematic construction of such conventional roll towel cabinet. In FIG. 1, a cabinet body 1 is fixed on a wall 2 by means of a suitable supporting member, and there is disposed a towel bed 3a for receiving an unused roll towel 3 in the cabinet body 1, the roll towel 3 being adapted to be held in a predetermined region when the roll towel 3 is pulled out from the cabinet body 1. The roll towel 3 is pulled out from an opening 1a provided at the lower portion of the cabinet body 1 along the direction shown by arrow A in the state that the roll towel 3 is pinched between an elongated roller 4 both ends of which are rotatably supported by the cabinet body 1 and another elongated roller or a pinch roller 5.
The portion of the unused towel pulled out from the opening 1a is maintained so as to form a loop 6 and used, and then the used portion is pulled into the cabinet body 1 from another opening 1b mounted at the lower portion of the cabinet body 1 as shown by arrow B and wound on a roll-up shaft 7 both ends of which are rotatably supported by the cabinet body.
In order to roll up the used portion of the towel on the roll-up shaft 7 by the same length as the unused portion pulled out, the rotation of the roller 4 is synchronized with that of the roll-up shaft 7. There is provided a sprocket 8 at one end of the elongated roller 4 and the sprocket 8 is connected to a sprocket 10 by a chain 9, the sprocket 10 being provided at one end of an elongated roller 11 both ends of which are rotatably supported by the cabinet body 1 and being contacted with a portion of the used portion of the towel wound on the roll-up shaft 7.
Therefore, when the unused portion of the towel is pulled in the direction shown by arrow A, the roller 4 and the sprocket 8 are clockwise rotated and then the roller 11 is clockwise rotated through the chain 9 and the sprocket 10. By the clockwise rotation of the roller 11, the used portion of the towel is counterclockwise wound.
According to such conventional device, since the diameter of the used roll towel is gradually increased as the towel is used, the roller 11 is rotatably mounted to the cabinet body 1, and the roll-up shaft 7 is adapted to be movable with respect to the cabinet body 1. In FIG. 1, the roll-up shaft 7 is moved in a direction shown by arrow D and the final diameter of the used roll towel is denoted by a two-dotted line 12. Both ends of the roll-up shaft 7 are supported by a pair of guide members having guide grooves (not shown) provided on the inner walls of the cabinet body 1 along the direction shown by arrow D. Therefore, the roll-up shaft 7 moves upwardly along the grooves, as the diameter of the used roll towel is gradually increased. At the initiation of the rolling-up operation for the used towel, the peripheral surface of the roller 11 is contacted with the peripheral surface of the roll-up shaft 7 by the weight of the roll-up shaft 7 per se. As the diameter of the used roll towel is increased, the peripheral surface of the roller 11 is contacted with the used roll towel wound up on the roll-up shaft 7 by the sum of the weight of the roll-up shaft 7 per se and the weight of the used roll towel wound on the roll-up shaft 7, therefore the force required for rotating the roller 4 by pulling the towel in the direction of A is gradually increased undesirably. In brief, the force required for pulling the unused towel is gradually increased after the initiation. This is very inconvenient. Furthermore, since the roll-up shaft 7 is arranged to be guided along the grooves of the guide member mounted on the cabinet body 1, and a portion of the weight of the used roll towel is loaded not only on the roller 11 but also the guide member, it is necessary to form the guide member by a rigid material such as stainless steel thereby undesirably making the whole cabinet weighty and expensive.
An object of the present invention is to present a roll towel cabinet for eliminating the disadvantages of the conventional roll towel cabinet mentioned above.
Other object of the present invention is to present a roll towel cabinet in which the pulling operation of an unused portion of a roll towel can be made by a substantially uniform force and the used portion of the roll towel can be surely rolled up.
Further object of the present invention is to present a roll towel cabinet with a light weight in which there is provided a compact arrangement for rolling up a used portion of a roll towel, and a loading of an unused towel into a cabinet are made easily.